Who is Issy Simpson?

Issy Simpson is an 8 year old magician who astonished the judges with her first audition.

The spellbinding child performer made Simon Cowell choose a page number from one of three books she brought with her, and then made Alesha Dixon choose a random word from that page. She then revealed she had written the word Alesha chose on a blackboard before the show, leaving the judges open mouthed in amazement.

She then stunned Simon by revealing she was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of him holding up the four of diamonds on it – when he had chosen the card earlier in her performance.

Issy idolises Harry Potter character Hermione Granger and is inspired by the beloved series in her magical performances.

So she was delighted when Simon said: “This is real life Harry Potter. I don’t know how you do it. You have magical powers.”

But the controversy didn’t end there. Another magician, Carl Leek, known as The Starman, says the Simon Cowell t-shirt trick which left judges spellbound was one he had performed at an earlier audition.

And he called in lawyers after he saw Issy perform.

While there is no proof BGT did pinch his act for Issy, Carl said: “It’s ludicrous. The routine is literally a carbon copy.

“My act was built around the T-shirt and I have emails from the producers sending me images of Simon I could legally use as my first printed T-shirt was refused.

“It was like looking in the mirror. I felt sick.”

He said: “I worked with a producer on a daily basis up until the audition, basically forwarding routines and getting them approved as they didn’t want anything that had been done similar in past shows.

“My audition was in Birmingham a week before the Manchester auditions, so how can the judges be surprised by this trick?”

A BGT spokeswoman said: “Issy Simpson came to Britain’s Got Talent with her own routine and magic performance prepared, which she then duly performed at her audition. Any suggestion otherwise would be completely false.”